سورة الرعد

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): People of religion have signs by which they are known: truthfulness in speech, trustworthiness, faithfulness to covenants, upholding ties of kinship, mercy toward the weak, little indulgence with women, generous kindness, good character, forbearance and expansiveness of temperament, pursuit of knowledge, and whatever brings one closer to Allah the Mighty and Majestic: for them is the purest [life] and a goodly return.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When a believer meets his believing brother and they shake hands, their sins keep falling from them as long as they are shaking hands, just as leaves fall from a tree. When they part, the two angels appointed over them say: "May Allah reward you both with good. If each of them continues to look after the other." A caller calls out: "Blessed are you both and what a goodly end you have!"

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) narrates from his fathers: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him): "Give your Shia and those who love you glad tidings of ten qualities. First: the purity of their birth. Second: the goodness of their faith. Third: Allah's love for them. Fourth: the spaciousness of their graves. Fifth: their light runs before them (al-Tahrim/8). Sixth: the removal of poverty from before their eyes and the richness of their hearts. Seventh: Allah's wrath upon their enemies. Eighth: safety from leprosy and elephantiasis. Ninth: the falling away of their sins and evils. And tenth: they are with me in Paradise and I am with them; so for them is the purest [life] and a goodly return."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Whoever feeds three believers, Allah the Exalted grants him a portion from three of the heavenly gardens of the kingdom of heaven: Firdaws, Jannat al-Barin (the highest garden), and Tuba. Tuba is a tree in Jannat al-Barin which Allah planted with His own hand.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Amir ibn Wathila said: 'O Ali (peace be upon him)! Indeed Allah has singled you out with something and granted it to you, than which no deed is better or more beloved to Allah, and that is renunciation of the world (zuhd). You will not gain anything from the world, nor will the world gain anything from you. This very zuhd, on the Day of Resurrection before Allah the Mighty and Majestic, is the adornment of the righteous. Blessed (tuba) is the one who loves you and affirms you, and woe to the one who bears enmity toward you and denies your station. Is there any besides me?' They said: 'By Allah, no.'

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Blessed are the lovers of my household!

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Blessed is the one who saw me and believed in me, and blessed is that one, and blessed is that one — he said it up to seven times — 'Blessed is the one who did not see me and yet turned to me in faith!'

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: Blessed is the one who reaches the Qa'im of my Ahl al-Bayt and follows him during his occultation and before his rising, and takes his friends as friends and his enemies as enemies — these are my friends and my companions, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be most dear to me!

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)— Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) used to kiss Fatimah (peace be upon her) often. Aisha found fault with this act; so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O Aisha! When I was taken to the heavens on the night of [Mi'raj], I entered Paradise, and Jibra'il (peace be upon him) took me to the tree of Tuba and gave me some of its fruits, and I ate them. Allah turned those fruits into a fluid in my loins, and when I came down to the earth I lay with Khadijah (peace be upon her); so she conceived Fatimah (peace be upon her). I have never kissed her without smelling the fragrance of the tree of Tuba; so she is a houri in human form."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)— It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) from his forefathers: One day the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was sitting when Umm Ayman came to him, and there was something in her outer garment. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) asked her: "O Umm Ayman! What do you have in your cloak?" She said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! So-and-so, the daughter of so-and-so, was given in marriage, and they scattered something over her, and I took some of what was scattered." Then Umm Ayman wept, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to her: "Why are you weeping?" She said: "You sent Fatimah (peace be upon her) to her husband's house and did not scatter anything over her!" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to her: "Do not weep. By the One who sent me in truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, at the marriage of Fatimah (peace be upon her) Jibra'il, Mika'il and Israfil (peace be upon them) were present along with thousands of angels, and Allah commanded the tree of Tuba to scatter over them, from the ornaments of Paradise, silk, sundus and istabraq, pearls, emeralds, rubies and heavenly perfume. And Allah made the tree of Tuba the dowry and mahr of Fatimah (peace be upon her), and He placed this tree [in Paradise] in the house of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) — Bilal ibn Hamama said: One day the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) came towards us while his face was radiant and shining like the full moon of the fourteenth night. At that moment, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf stood up and asked him: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What is the meaning of this light?" He said: "A glad tiding has come to me from Allah concerning me, my brother, my cousin, and my daughter, and it is this: that Allah the Exalted has given Fatimah (peace be upon her) in marriage to Ali (peace be upon him), and He commanded Ridwan, the keeper of Paradise, and he shook the tree of Tuba. The load of that tree was letters of amnesty [amān] equal to the number of the lovers of the Ahl al-Bayt. Beneath that tree, He created angels from light, and to each angel He gave a letter of amnesty. On the Day when the Resurrection is established, the angels will call out among the people: 'O lovers of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)! Hasten and come and receive your deposits.' So every one of the lovers of us, the Ahl al-Bayt, whom you see, the angels will give him a letter of amnesty in which his release from the fire of Hell is guaranteed. Therefore, out of respect for my brother, my cousin, and my daughter, Allah delivers many men and women from the fire of Hell."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: When this verse was revealed to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): طُوبی لَهُمْ وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ [A good final state shall be theirs and a goodly return]; Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi stood up before the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, what is Tuba?" He said: "O Miqdad, it is a tree in Paradise such that if a rider on a swift horse were to gallop in its shade, he would traverse a hundred years of road before reaching its end. Its leaves and bark are cool, refreshing and green; its blossoms are meadows; its branches are sundus and istabraq (fine and thick silk brocade); its fruits are green garments; its taste is ginger and honey; its pavement is red ruby and green emerald, and its soil is musk and ambergris. Its mosses are firm, and it is aloewood incense that flames up without any firewood. From its root gush forth Salsabil, Rahiq and clear-flowing water. Its shade is a gathering place for the Shia of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), where they come together and converse with one another. While they are conversing in its shade, angels come to them holding the reins of choice steeds that have been created from ruby, into which the spirit has then been breathed, bridled with chains of gold. Their faces in beauty and comeliness are like lamps; their manes are a mixture of red silk and soft white wool, the like of which no beholder has ever seen in beauty and splendor. They are docile without having been tamed, and choice without having been trained. Upon them are saddles whose boards are of pearl and ruby, inlaid in silver with pearls and coral. Their plates are of red gold, covered with fine red cloths and beautiful garments. They make those steeds kneel down for them. Then they say: 'Your Lord sends you greetings of peace, and He sees you and looks upon you and loves you, and you love Him, and He increases you from His bounty and His abundance. Indeed, He is the possessor of vast mercy and immense bounty; فَإِنَّهُ ذُو رَحْمَةٍ وَاسِعَةٍ وَ فَضْلٍ عَظِیم [Indeed, He is the possessor of vast mercy and immense bounty].'"

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): One of the things that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) saw during the Miraj was this ... He said: "Suddenly I came upon a tree such that if a bird were sent to fly around its root, even after seven hundred years it would not succeed in doing so. There is no dwelling in Paradise but that a branch of this tree is in it." I said to Jibrail: "O Jibrail, what is this?" Jibrail said: "This is the tree of Tuba." Allah has said: طُوبَی لَهُمْ وَحُسْنُ مَآبٍ [A good final state shall be theirs and a goodly return].

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Isa (peace be upon him) asked: "O my Lord! What is Tuba?" He said: "It is a tree in Paradise which I Myself have planted. This tree casts its shade over all of Paradise, and its root is from Ridwan; its water is from the spring of Tasnim, it has the coolness of camphor, and its taste is that of ginger. Whoever drinks a sip from that spring will never feel thirst after that." Isa (peace be upon him) said: "O Allah! Give me to drink of that water!" He said: "O Isa (peace be upon him)! As long as Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) has not drunk of that water, drinking it is forbidden to the children of mankind. As long as the community of that Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) has not drunk from this spring, drinking it is forbidden to the other communities. O Isa (peace be upon him)! Now I raise you up to Myself, and then at the end of the world I shall bring you down, so that you may see wonders from the community of that Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and assist them in confronting the accursed Dajjal. I shall bring you down at the time of prayer so that you may pray with them; for they are a community upon whom Allah has bestowed His mercy."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Tuba is a tree that comes forth from the Garden of Eden, and the Exalted Lord planted it with His own hand.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): [Uthman ibn Affan] said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), what is the explanation of Abjad?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Learn the explanation of Abjad." ... until he said: "As for the letter ha in Hutti, it means the falling away of the sins of those who seek forgiveness on the Night of Qadr, and it means that which Jibrail (peace be upon him) and the angels descend with to the earth until the break of dawn. And the letter ta means طُوبَی لَهُمْ وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ [Tuba is for them and a goodly return], and Tuba is a tree which Allah the Mighty and Majestic planted and into which He breathed of His spirit, and its branches are seen from behind the walls of Paradise. It grows ornaments and garments, and hangs down over the mouths of the people of Paradise."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Bilal ibn Hamama said: One day the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) came to us while his blessed face was like the disc of the moon. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf rose and said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! What is this light?" He said: "It is on account of glad tidings that have come to me from my Lord concerning my brother, the son of my uncle, and my daughter — the glad tidings that Allah has wedded Fatimah (peace be upon her) to the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him). Allah commanded the keeper of Paradise to shake the tree of Tuba so that it would bear slips equal in number to the lovers of the Ahl al-Bayt, and beneath that tree He created angels of light and gave to each of them one slip. When the Resurrection is set up, the angels will call out to the lovers of the Ahl al-Bayt among the creatures, and not one of those who love my Ahl al-Bayt will remain but that, through the son of my uncle, Ali (peace be upon him), and my daughter, Fatimah (peace be upon her), the men and women of my community will be delivered from Hell."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): طُوبی لَهُمْ وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ [A good final state shall be theirs and a goodly return]; it is a tree in Paradise which Allah the Mighty and Majestic planted with His own hand and into which He breathed of His spirit. It grows ornaments, garments and fruits, and they hang down over the mouths of the people of Paradise, and its branches are seen from behind the walls of Paradise, and it is situated in the dwelling of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him); his friend will not be deprived of it and his enemy will not reach it.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Tuba is a tree that Allah the Mighty and Majestic planted with the hand of His power and breathed into it of His own spirit. The branches of this tree can be seen from behind the wall of Paradise, [laden] with ornaments and adorning garments and fruits [hanging] open and straight, within reach for the people of Paradise to use.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): As for Tuba, it is a tree in Paradise whose trunk is in the house of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and if a bird were to begin its flight from the trunk of this tree, it would not reach its branches — old age would bring it down first. Upon every leaf of this tree there is an angel occupied with the remembrance of Allah. In every one of the houses of the people of Paradise there is a branch from the branches of this tree, and its branches can be seen from behind the wall of the garden of Paradise, laden with ornaments, adornments and fruits that the believers desire. Whatever is taken from it and used, Allah restores it again to its former state; because the earnings of the people of Paradise in the world were lawful, they spent seeking nearness [to Allah], and gave away from the surplus of their wealth; so they attained salvation and success.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Tuba is a tree whose root is in the house of the noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and in the house of every believer in Paradise there is a branch of this tree. No desire arises in the heart of a believer without this tree providing that desire for him. If a swift rider were to travel in the shade of this tree for a hundred years, he would not come out of its shade. If a crow were to fly from the bottom of this tree, it could not reach the top of this tree without becoming old and falling. So come and eagerly desire to attain such a blessing. The believer is always occupied with himself, and people are at ease from him. When night casts its shadow over him, he places his face on the earth and prostrates with the noblest limb of his body [the forehead] before Allah, and he privately converses with the Lord who created him, so that He may free him from bondage. Behold! Come and be like this.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): Tuba is a tree in Paradise located in the house of Ali (peace be upon him), and in the house of each of the people of Paradise there is a branch of the branches of this tree. Whatever Allah has created is beneath this tree. Beneath this tree is the gathering place of the people of Paradise, and in this gathering they recall Allah's blessings upon themselves. Just as at the foot of the trees of this world there are heaps of sand, beneath the tree of Tuba there are heaps of sweet fragrance.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) was asked about طُوبی لَهُمْ وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ [a good final state shall be theirs and a goodly return]. He said: "It is a tree in Paradise whose root is in my house and whose branches are above the heads of the people of Paradise." He was asked another time. He said: "It is a tree in Paradise whose root is in the house of Ali (peace be upon him) and whose branches are above the heads of the people of Paradise." It was said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! I asked you about it, and you said: 'Its root is in my house and its branches are above the heads of the people of Paradise'!" He said: "My house and the house of Ali (peace be upon him) are one."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Indeed I have been informed that Tuba is a tree in Paradise whose root is in the house of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and this tree is for him and for his followers. Upon the tree are chests, in each of which are splendid garments of sundus and istabraq [fine and heavy silk], and for every servant there are a million chests, in each of which are a hundred thousand garments, the colour of each differing from the others, except that all their colours are green, of sundus and istabraq. So this is the highest part of the tree. Its middle is the shade of the tree, so that if a swift rider were to gallop in the shade of that tree, it would take him a hundred years to traverse it. Its lowest part is the fruits of the tree, which are close to their houses; each of its branches is like a stick upon which a hundred kinds of fruit have grown, of the fruits you have seen and those you have never yet seen. Allah the Exalted says: لَا مَقْطُوعَةٍ وَ لَا مَمْنُوعَةٍ [Never cut off nor forbidden] (al-Waqi'ah/33). This tree is called Tuba, and from its root a river flows which waters the Garden of Eden, and it is a palace of a single pearl in which there is no crack or joint. If all the Muslims were gathered in it, it would have room for them. This palace has a million doors, and every door has two leaves of chrysolite and ruby, twelve miles in length. None enter it save prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and those who have loved one another for the sake of Allah, and also the weak among the believers whose station is here — and this is the Garden of Eden.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Tuba is a tree in Paradise whose root is in the dwelling of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), and its branches are in the dwellings of the other people of Paradise. When they part from one another, two noble angels call out to them: "O two friends of Allah! Glad tidings to you of Allah's honour and nobility, and Paradise is also behind you."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Imam Sajjad (peace be upon him) narrates from his father: The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was asked about the saying of Allah the Exalted: طُوبَی لَهُمْ وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ [Tuba is for them and a goodly return]. He said: "It was revealed concerning Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and Tuba is a tree whose root is in the house of Ali (peace be upon him) in Paradise, and there is nothing of Paradise but that it is in that tree."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Tuba is a tree in Paradise in the house of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him), and there is no one of his Shia but that in his house there is a branch of its branches and a leaf of its leaves, under whose shade a nation from among the nations takes rest.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Blessed is the one who clings to us during the occultation of our Qa'im (may Allah hasten his noble relief) and remains firm in his belief in our principles, so that after being guided his heart does not deviate! I said: "May I be your ransom! What is Tuba?" He said: "It is a tree in Paradise whose root is in the house of Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), and in the house of every believer in Paradise there is a branch of this tree. Allah the Exalted has said concerning this: طُوبَی لَهُمْ وَحُسْنُ مَآبٍ [A good final state shall be theirs and a goodly return]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) on the seventeenth of Rabi al-Awwal visited Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) with this ziyarah: "Peace be upon you, O one for whom is the purest [life] and the best of final destinations, and may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you!"

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ حُسْنُ مَآبٍ; that is, a goodly outcome.